Record flight attempt raises hopes for a solar and superbattery revolution

Mission impossible. That is what the Swiss inventors and pilots Betrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg heard again and again when they first came up with the audacious idea of a solar-powered aircraft. And that such an aircraft could fly around the world? Preposterous.

The Solar Impulse 2 plane takes off for a trip around the world from Al Bateen Executive Airport in Abu Dhabi, UAE, March 9, 2015. The trip will take the Solar Impulse 2 to Oman, India, Myanmar and China. The plane will then cross the Pacific to Hawaii and on to the US mainland. Following a flight across the Atlanic and over the Mediterranean region, the pilots are planning to return to the capital of the United Arab Emirates. Photo: Ali Haider/EPA

The first attempt to fly around the world in a plane using solar energy took off on the morning of March 9 from Abu Dhabi, heading for India and then on to Mandalay, Myanmar, in a landmark journey aimed at promoting green energy.

Solar Impulse CEO and pilot Andre Borschberg talks to media during a press conference at Abu Dhabi airport on 20 Jan. 2015 as part of World Future Energy Summit during a press conference in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 20 January 2015. Photo: EPA

Myanmar is on the list of landing points for the first attempted around the world solar-powered flight, it was announced at the Solar Impulse team press conference in Abu Dhabi, UAE on January 20.